If you’re anything like me, and want to hide what you’ve done wrong, today’s chapter shows just how fast it is to receive forgiveness…

READ 2 SAMUEL 12 Make notes, if you’d like, of what stands out for you. Feel free to use the “Leave a Comment” box below to also write some of your thoughts.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

It wasn’t until I had teenagers of my own that I began to see the impact of bad behaviour. As a teenager and young adult, right through to my 30s, I was running so fast that I didn’t take any notice of what was behind me – what I was leaving behind in my wake. If the consequences didn’t catch up with me, I was content to ignore them – thinking that they weren’t hurting anyone. So when I read in v14 of today’s chapter: “by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord” or, “you’ve given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme”, I’m now starting to see things from God’s perspective.

What’s amazing with today’s chapter is that there’s a direct impact, from my behaviour, on Father God’s role as my protector and defender.[a] But even with everything we do wrong, no matter how bad we are, Father God is quick to forgive.[b] As quick as a flash (as if He operates at the speed of light) as soon as David acknowledges his sin, Father God responds with full and complete forgiveness! [v13] If the speed of unqualified forgiveness isn’t astonishing enough, God goes beyond it to include the first clues of eternal life, which is coupled to our forgiveness…

Your Country’s response to needs in Africa

Yourself: A desire to be like Christ

Your concerns for today

While I pray and ask for things, help me to honour You, O God, from my wealth and from the first of everything I produce so that my “barns” will be filled with plenty and my vats overflowing with new wine. [Proverbs 3:9-10]

3. Admit: “…Forgive us our sin as we forgive those who sin against us…”

Thank-you that You’re willing to reason with me, Father God. Though my sins are as scarlet, You’ll make them white as snow. Though they’re red like crimson, they’ll be like wool. [Isaiah 1:18]

4. Protect: “…Lead us not into temptation but delivers us from evil.”

You, Lord God Almighty, loved the world so much that You gave Your only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have eternal life. [John 3:16]

“For Yours Lord is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory now and forever. Amen!”

When Jesus was questioned, tested, tricked or in His hour of great need, He always spoke things that were previously written in God’s Word.[e] Following these memory verses from ten topics, will help you learn 52 verses from the bible in a year! THIS WEEK’S MEMORY VERSE: Using our Gifting

“Now you are the Body of Christ, and each of you is a part of it.” [1 Corinthians 12:27]